In applications utilizing high-temperature superconductors (HTS) under high mechanical loads as high-field magnets or rotors of generators and motors, the rare-earth-barium-copper-oxide (REBCO) tapes have to be stabilized mechanically. This is achieved using support structures of structural materials and filling the voids in the support through the impregnation of the tapes. The impregnation prevents movement of the tapes and distributes mechanical loads evenly. With high mechanical strengths and low sensitivities to rapid temperature changes, epoxy resins are desired materials for the impregnation of superconductor tapes. However, a strong decrease of the current-carrying capabilities was observed in previous epoxy-impregnated REBCO coils. In this work the thermal expansion mismatches between epoxy resins and REBCO tapes are identified as the cause of these degradations. Fillers are used to reduce the thermal expansions of glues and resins. Mixtures with varying filler contents are analyzed systematically. Their thermal expansions and the corresponding degradations of short REBCO tape samples are measured. A mixture of epoxy resin and filler is found which allows degradation-free impregnation of REBCO tapes. This mixture is validated on a 1.2 m long 15 × 5 Roebel-assembled-coated-conductor (RACC) cable from Industrial Research Limited (IRL).
The DEMO reactor is expected to be the first application of fusion for electricity generation in the near future. To this aim conceptual design activities are progressing in Europe (EU) under the lead of the EUROfusion Consortium in order to drive on the development of the major tokamak systems. In 2014 the activities carried out by the magnet system project team were focused on the Toroidal Field (TF) magnet system design and demonstrated major achievements in terms of concept proposals and of consolidated evaluations against design criteria. Several magnet system R&D activities were conducted in parallel, together with broad investigations on High Temperature Superconductor (HTS) technologies. In this paper we present the outcomes of the work conducted in two areas in the 2014 magnet work program: (1) the EU inductive reactor (called DEMO1) 2014 configuration (power plant operating under inductive regime) was the basis of conceptual design activities, including further optimizations; and (2) the HTS R&D activities building upon the consolidated knowledge acquired over the past years
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